What are the Uses of ReQall?

ReQall is an easy to use device that helps with jotting down notes when you are on the go! It has a memory jogger that will pop up and remind you of certain events that you don't want to miss! This device helps one keep organized, while doing all that work for you [2]!

Who Uses ReQall?

Anyone can use ReQall! It is probably more helpful for students or people of the business world, but it can also be a huge help to stay at home mom's who are on the go and don't have time to write something down. This program is handy for anyone, no matter what kind of work they are doing!

I. History

I.1 Development

The first version of the reQall application became available in January, 2007, when it was launched at the DEMO 07 conference and won a DEMOgod award. ReQall is based on memory research done by Sunil Vemuri at the MIT Media Lab in the early 2000s. ReQall is a voice-enabled memory aid that seamlessly integrates your mobile phone, email, text messaging and IM into a powerful organizer, reminder system and productivity assistant.ReQall lets you capture your ideas, tasks and commitments before you forget, and it proactively keeps you well-prepared and memory-strong. In March 2009, the company introduced a new version of reQall that includes a patent-pending “Memory Jogger” that analyzes various aspects of the user’s current situation (time, location and upcoming calendar events) to provide a dynamically updated display of relevant to-dos and notes. ReQall is a global organization and run by science, business, and technology specialists [4]. ReQall is capable of recognizing key words and filing information used with those words into an organized manner. The "Shopping List" application is specifically designed to recognize the word "buy", so that when you enter it in or say it, the information is stored. By recognizing dates, times and keywords, reQall automatically organizes your To-Dos, Notes and Shopping List items. reQall even understands recurring dates such as every Friday at 9 a.m.[6].

I.2 How it Works

As previously stated, reQall is a voice-activated organizer/planner application that helps you manage anything from specific dates and times to managing emails and sending yourself reminders for certain events. But how does this work? ReQall works by having certain words programmed as trigger words to help with organization. "Buy", for instance, will send them message to the "reminder" section, while words such as "meet" will save the message, and, depending how you want to use it, send it to others as a reminder. While you are saying your message into your cellular phone, reQall is transcribing it so that you can access the message in multiple forms (i.e. voicemail, email, saved text, etc). For many of these messages, the computer system used by reQall will transcribe it for you, however, in some instances, human transcription can be applied as well. If you specified a designated time and date for an event or reminder to take place, you will receive an a reminder from reQall (depending on personal settings, you may receive an email, text, voicemail, or other form of electronic communication). [1]

I.3 Important People

ReQall is backed by a strong team of founders and board members. The reQall team is made up of the Board and Advisors. It is important when considering reQall and its many helpful uses to consider the people behind it, for their credentials, influence on reQall, and all the work they've put into the perfection of this tool [7].

Rao Machiraju: Co-Founder and CEO

Rao Machiraju is responsible for the overall strategy and direction of reQall Inc. Machiraju was the principle scientist at Apple Computer for over ten years. He holds six patents in computing. Rao is a member of the board of counselors of NSF'S Center on Multi Media Computing (IMSC) at the university of Southern California and serves on the Advisory Board of the Edward De Bono World Centre for New Thinking based in Malta.

Sunil Vemuri: Co-Founder and CEO

Sunil Vemuri oversees product development at reQall and contributes to the company's product vision. He received his Ph.D. from MIT's Media Lab, his Masters Degree in Computer Science from Stanford University, and his Bachelor's Degree in Cybernetics from UCLA. Prior to reQall, Sunil worked at France Telecom and Apple Computer. Vemuri also has three patents.

Don Norman: Chief Mentor

Don Norman is the Chief Mentor of reQall Inc. He advises the company on its product design, usability and overall product direction. Don is co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, Professor at Norwestern University and former VP of Apple Computer.

Pratapa Bernard: CMO, COO

Pratapa Bernard is the Chief Marketing Officer of reQall Inc. He drives the overall marketing strategy and is responsible for customer acquition and building the global brand for reQall. Pratapa Bernard is a seasoned Telecommunications and information Technology industry professional with 20 yeas of experience in Product Management and Marketing.

Reed Wolthausen: CFO

Reed Wolthausen is the Chief Financial Officer of reQall Inc. He has held a variety of positions in corporate finance and general management, including CFO, Senior Vice President, and Director for privately held companies. He holds a BS in finance from the University of Southern California and an MBA from San Jose State University.

Deb Miller: VP, Products

Deb Miller is the Vice President, Products for reQall Inc. Deb has over 25 years of experience in leadership roles for high technology companies. Miller has a broad background that includes expertise in technical management, financial analysis, business plan development, marketing research, and product management. She received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Kansas State University in 1977 and an M.B.A. from Colorado State University in 1986.

Clarence Chan: VP, Engineering

Clarence Chan is the VP of Engineering for reQall Inc. He is in charge of overseeing reQall's engineering efforts. Clarence holds the US Patent no 6571245 for Virtual Desktop. He holds a Bachelor of Computer Science degree for the University of Manitoba, Canada.

Rajib Ghosh: Director, Design

Rajib Ghosh drives the user experience of all reQall products and overall company brand identity. Rajib studied design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India.

Ash Vasudevan

Ash is the Managing General Partner of Edge Venture Capital and a Founding Director of reQall Inc. Vasudevan earned a Ph.D. in Management in 1996 from the Fox School of Business at Temple University in Philadelphia.

II. How Reqall Relates to other Applications

II.1 Comparison to competitors:

"Evernote makes it easy to remember the big things from your phone, computer, or web. If you can see it or think of it, Evernote can help you remember it. Type a text note. Clip a web page. Snap a photo. Grab a screenshot. It will all go into one place." [8].

"Yap is a fully automated speech-to-text platform can enhance a wide array of third party applications or services, such as analytics, conferencing, messaging, search, translation or voicemail." [9].

"OmniFocus is designed to quickly capture your thoughts and allow you to store, manage, and process them into actionable to-do items. Capture it all on the fly with the quick entry panel, accessible via keyboard shortcut from virtually any application." [10].

II.2 Unique Features:

* The ReQall Memory Jogger constantly watches for opportunities to keep you well-prepared and memory-strong.* It reminds you of upcoming events on your calendar and will predict when you will forget and send memory refreshers.* ReQall also links to another popular application called Evernote.* The new iPhone version of ReQall puts a "related items" option on all entries.* Offers unlimited voice-to-text transcriptions and 30 seconds of recording time per message

Another way that this application can be used to relate to other applications is that ReQall can be used with text messages, email, web, calendars, iphone, and live feeds. This application is very helpful when dealing with other applications. Because the Memory Jogger, this application has put a higher standard on new and coming products [3].

III. Real World Application

ReQall is an especially valuable tool in the business and industry world. ReQall can be used on your iPhone or Blackberry phones, regular phones, and on the web. These can all be synced with Google Calandar, Microsoft Outlook, and iCal so you can keep your calendar up to date with newly added reQall items. Any business/industry can use these features to stay on task and up to date. The reQall system can send reminders and tasks through e-mail, SMS text messages, and instant messaging. ReQall can store your brainstorming ideas and can be quickly updated through voice recognition or typing on the phone or web. With all these features reQall is a perfect addition to the business world [4].

III.1 Elementary Lesson Plans

(1) Learning About reQall presentation:

This lesson is to teach the learner what is reQall and how to use it. How it can be used in real life situations and how it can be used in the class room. I have students use and practice the app on their own while asking them how it can be usefull to them?

This lesson is designed to help students memorize their times tables. Some students need that extra reminder so for the test coming up I have designed a lesson plan helping students use reQall to memorize and learn their times tables.

I have designed a lesson plan in which the student has been learning certain events in history. I now want them to act it out an event in history in a small skit to ensure the student of what he/she has learned. So using reQall to remember lines and send notices to others in your group to accomplish taskes needed to complete this assignment

III.2 Secondary Lesson Plans

(1) The Canterbury Tales presentation:

In this lesson the students will be assigned a tale in Chaucers, "The Canterbury Tales" and they will be instructed to create a presentation on that tale and its use of that time's culture. They will use reQall to communicate schedules, tasks, and items to buy with the group members and the instructor.

In this lesson the students will be assigned a type of "green" or environmentally friendly technological advancement. They will present their research on that advancement as well as use what they've learned about the ecology and environment to make changes to that advancement or come up with their own.

This lesson explores the importance of literature analysis. The students will be instructed on the best way to analyze British Literature texts, they will then gather in groups and use reQall to interact and plan their class presentation. They will use their creativity, analyzing skills, and knowledge of the material to create a cohesive well informed presentation.

This lesson centers on a group project that will go into detail about a specific era in the history of American education. Students will use ReQall to keep in contact with each other and figure out meeting times and due dates for different facets of the project.

This lesson plan is for a college-level technology class. The topic for this class will obviously be ReQall, and will provide a detailed look into ReQall: how it works, how it was created, and its practical uses.

Online classes can sometimes become a hassle, especially with a pesky internet connection problem. This lesson will be an instructional video on how to set up a ReQall account, and then how ReQall can/will be used in an online course scenario as a backup alternative to Blackboard-type websites.

III.4 How Reqall is Used in the Business/Industry Setting.

In business/industry settings ReQall has many ways to be helpful. You can download applications for the iPhone and Blackberry phones, phones, and the web. These can all be synced with Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. Any business/industry can use these features to keep on task. The ReQall system can send reminders and tasks through email, SMS texts, and IM. Also during meetings reQall can store your brainstorming ideas and you can use your iPhone or Blackberry to quickly type in your ideas or remiders. Reqall can also send remiders to others using contacts in your phone such as co-workers or employees. This application can be used to keep employees on task or even send late reminders of meetings or tasks that need to be accomplished [5].

IV. Demonstration of Educational Value

ReQall is an excellent tool in the educational system. The co-founder Sunil Vemuri said in response to where he wants this application to go, “[I want reQall] to be part of the quality changes in life from students and educational development to medical science improvements.” ReQall can be used by students and instructors of many ages. For instructors, reQall can be used to remember schedules, to do items, and important dates. The user of this tool can also link contacts to their reQall and can link their items to certain contacts. This can help instructors with keeping their students informed of the pending items and future events that are important. ReQall is free, when using the basic version and not the Pro, this makes it simple for instructors and students to use without cost. For students, this tool can be the perfect tool to keep on track of their schedule. ReQall can be on their phones and send reminder emails and texts which will constantly remind the student of what is due and what they might have forgotten. This tool can expand student’s ability to plan ahead and increase their ability to staying organized in the future. The linking of contacts can be an essential addition to a group project for students. They can link their group members to remind them of meeting times, to-do items, due dates, even things to buy for the project and so much more. This tool is helpful for both students and instructors individually as well as using the application to interact in a way that suits the constant technological advancements. The reQall website displays user testimonials of all the different types of people that can benefit from reQall. Click this link to find an educational testimonial and read for yourself how educationally valuable reQall can be http://www.reqall.com/about/userstories_work.

V. How Reqall is used Internationally?

reQall is a global, venture-backed business, with operations in the U.S., Hong Kong and India, focusing on improving human memory. reQall's iPhone, web and BlackBerry capabilities are available all over the world. reQall's phone services are available in the U.S. and Canada. reQall Voice is an easy-to-use mobile application, that significantly lowers your mobile communication expenses, especially while travelling. reQall can be used during international affairs similarly to how email is used. Voice messages can be sent/received via ReQall from all over the world, eliminating the problems that actual phone calls from different times zones can cause.[6].